Zillow Group settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and five state attorneys general on Monday over allegations that a $100 million agreement with Redfin had illegally suppressed apartment rental listing competition.
The ruling is expected to restore more competition in the apartment listings market and drive down costs for property management companies and renters.
“Today’s settlement unwinds an agreement under which Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to stop competing and hand off all its customers to Zillow,” said Daniel Guarnera, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “This kind of payment to a competitor to exit a market and stop competing violates the antitrust laws. This settlement delivers better, quicker, more certain results for both renters and property management companies than we would have been able to achieve after prevailing at trial, including firm and enforceable commitments by Redfin to relaunch its rentals advertising business.”
Under the agreement, Redfin had shuttered its rental ad unit, laid off more than 400 employees, and transferred its advertising customers to Zillow. Rent.com and ApartmentGuide, both Redfin properties, were retooled to carry exclusively Zillow listings.
The FTC and attorneys general from New York, Virginia, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington argued the arrangement amounted to a competitor buyout.
A government expert estimated that after Redfin’s exit, Zillow customers paid an average of 14.5% more per listing.
The order also requires Redfin to reenter the rental listings market with far more apartment listings and to make enforceable commitments to invest millions of dollars to ensure Redfin will be a far stronger competitor than it was before the 2025 agreement. Restoring competition in the apartment listing market is expected to drive down costs and spur innovation that benefits renters and property management companies.
When FTC first filed suit, it noted that Zillow, Redfin, and CoStar’s Apartments.com collectively control more than 80% of the online apartment advertising market, making any reduction in head-to-head rivalry consequential for lenders and housing finance professionals monitoring multifamily market health.
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